Permaculture

Permaculture not Monoculture - The Gardeners Calendar. For some time now we at the Gardeners Calendar have been following greener and more environmentally sympathetic lifestyles.

We have been harvesting rainwater, reducing our carbon footprints, generating alternative sources of energy, we have planted our vegetable crops using the lunar calendar, we have even had forays into composting toilets. All these things are lifestyle choices we have made because we are concerned with the impact we have on the environment. These choices are a small part of a lifestyle culture known as 'Permaculture'. 30 or so years ago two Australians wrote a book called "Permaculture One", Bill Mollison and David Holmgren. Being all too aware of our destructive use of the environment, they created a set of driving principles and techniques for a more sustainable way of living.

Imagine a set of five concentric circles emanating from a center point where your house sits on your property. In the zone closest to your house plant herbs, salad leaves, and flowers.
Ännu en potentiell odlingsmodell « Automat. A 1-acre permaculture farm supplies 50 families. I've always been somewhat of a lazy gardener.

And that's why permaculture has always made a whole lot of sense to me. Instead of throwing physical labor and fossil fuels at any given problem, the idea behind permaculture gardening is to use nature's own design tricks to create productive landscapes that do much of the work for you. I've seen these design principles applied to various degrees of success.

Permaculture Education

Beautiful permaculture farm grows in just three years. Transforming a conventional orchard into a fruit forest. From 2000-year-old food forests to an amazing, chaotic and largely self-sustaining allotment, we've seen plenty of examples of permaculture projects that aim to rethink the model of how we grow food.

What's often asked, however, is whether permaculture can really replace mainstream farming. Stefan Sobkowiak believes it can. And he's been working for the last 20 years to convert a 12 acre conventional commercial orchard into Miracle Farms, a largely self-sustaining permaculture food forest that uses little to no external fertilizer, and encourages a broad diversity of plants, insects and soil life to maintain its health and produce its bounty.

Now a new documentary project seeks to spread the word about his work.
A 1-acre permaculture farm supplies 50 families.

Buying Land for Permaculture

International Permaculture Directory. Forums Archive - Regenerative. Establishing A Food Forest The Permaculture Way. Never Before Seen Footage! Backyard Food Forest Years 1,2 & 3. Cheap Living You Won't Imagine Permaculture Project BBC Documentary Part 1. Cheap Living You Won't Imagine Permaculture Project BBC Documentary Part 2. Green Gold - Documentary by John D. Liu. John D Liu- Ecosystem Restoration in a Time of Crisis. John D Liu is an American who has lived in China for more than 30 years.

John has concentrated on ecological film making since the mid-1990’s, and has written, produced and directed films on Grasslands, Deserts, Wetlands, Oceans, Rivers, Urban Development, Atmosphere, Forests, Endangered Animals, and Poverty Reduction. His work has taken him to over 70 countries. Many of his films have appeared on BBC World and other networks. In 2003, Mr. Liu wrote, produced and directed “Jane Goodall – China Diary” for National Geographic. Since 1997, John has directed the EEMP, which uses television to deliver ecological, sustainable development and public health messages in China and other countries.
Charting The Sun's Motion In Relation To Your Home And Permaculture Site. Image source: NREL.gov Understanding the sun’s motion relative to a site is an important aspect of a good permaculture design, as various elements like plants, animals and solar devices depend on sun for their functionality.

A good appreciation of the earth’s rotation about its axis, its revolution around the sun and the consequences of these motions on the sun’s position and availability at a given location on the earth’s surface, is essential for maximizing plant productivity, harnessing maximum energy, minimizing energy usage and maintaining a comfortable indoor environment for humans and animals alike. For proper functioning and productivity gardens, greenhouses and orchards should be placed at specific locations based on the adequate availability of sunshine for the parts of the year in which the plants are growing or fruiting. Let’s begin by trying to understand the earth’s rotation about its axis, its orbit around the sun and the four seasons. The four seasons. How Plant-based Permaculture Is Possible. I get laughed at a lot.

It’s frequent enough that, when I tell people of my intention to build a permaculture system without using domesticated animals, I sort of give a preemptive grin. While I believe most permies mean well in advising me, most seem pretty dead-set on the idea that a vegan permaculture garden just can’t work. In a lot of ways, I won’t lie, the proposition scares me, too. I’ve only built systems for other people, all of whom had animals in some form or another, so there are a lot of theories and techniques that I’ll have to test myself for the first time. But, I have to try. Truth be known, in my experience of being vegan, most people—not permaculturalists in particular, just people—seem to relish expounding on just how much my diet choice lacks.

Permaculture Zones of Use: A Primer. Ah, an archetypical permaculture zones of use chart.

So elegant in its simplicity, yet bewildering to those who wish to transpose it. Just what are permaculture zones of use and why do they matter? Permaculture zones of use are at once an organizing force during the design process as well as a management tool. They directly aid our efforts by offering simple, but effective logic to the positioning of design elements in the whole system. The closer an element is to nexus of human activity, the more attention it can receive than elements positioned further away. Therefore, it can be said that zones of use reflect the confluence of spatial relationships, energy use, and time.

A property is typically divided into 6 zones of use.
Permaculture Gardening: Creating Our Own Eco-systems. Most people interested in practicing permaculture are doing so in a domestic situation – a house or apartment with a garden.

Permaculture works brilliantly on a small scale, so permaculture gardening methods are ideal for these situations. Here are some distinctive permaculture gardening methods to make your garden healthy, low-maintenance and highly productive. No Digging Soil is the very foundation of life on our planet, and we need to understand how to take care of it so that it can support the plant life which feeds us. The soil food web is complex and fragile and about the most damaging thing we can do to it is regularly turn it over, break it up and squash it.
Permaculture Gardening: Creating Our Own Eco-systems. Permaculture Association. All courses are listed by members of the Permaculture Association.

If you would like to list courses here and are not yet a member, join today.
Ben Falk: 10 Years In A Cold Climate: Resilience & Regeneration. Principles in Practice. Permacultuur Introductie. From Finance to Farmer - Incredible Permaculture Farm Created in Just 3 Years!
PERMACULTURE HOME - Making Vegetable Beds.

Well, Angelo gives us a great update on his progress below.
Geoff Lawton's Zaytuna Farm Video Tour (Apr/May 2012) - Ten Years of (R)Evolutionary Design. Paradise Dam, April 2012, from the now-climaxing food forest Zaytuna Farm Video Tour, duration 41 minutes Having spent the last few years seeking to establish and assist projects worldwide, and hearing some readers requesting more info on our own permaculture base site, I thought it high time I take a moment away from promoting other projects to shine a little light on our own work! It had been a long time since I last visited Zaytuna Farm.
Permaculture: Design For Living. Reprinted with permission from Context Institute – The Permaculture Research Institute gives sincere thank you to Context Institute for allowing us to share their work.

Original Web Page is located here – Permaculture is more than a new way of gardening – it’s a sustainable way to live on planet Earth. An Interview With Bill Mollison, by Alan AtKisson. Does your Garden Need Daffodils?
Many spring ephemerals–such as daffodils–dazzle the early season with their colorful flowers. But their benefit to the ecosystem extends beyond beauty. Learn about spring ephemerals and how they can benefit a permaculture garden. Posts may contain affiliate links, which allow me to earn a commission at no extra cost to you. This helps keep costs down so that I can continue providing high quality content to you for free. I appreciate your purchase through the links! What are Spring Ephemerals? Daffodils are spring ephemerals–herbaceous plants that live in deciduous forests.

During their short time of spring activity, they have access to full sun conditions while other plants are still dormant. Daffodils and other spring ephemerals will reproduce by setting seed as well as by sending out new shoots from the root bulbs.
Top 10 Herbs and their Health Benefits. Please Note: This article is to be considered as general information. Please consult with your relevant health care professional in relation to the use of these herbs. Herbs and spices is at the foreground of our history. These have been integrated into our rich culture and tradition for many centuries.
Barking Frogs Permaculture. Manual escrito pelo “pai” da permacultura está disponível para download – CicloVivo. A permacultura se baseia no planejamento de sistemas em escala humana criados em total harmonia com a natureza. 28 de setembro de 2016 • Atualizado às 22 : 30 O manual de introdução à permacultura foi desenvolvido com base em um curso ministrado por Mollison em 1981. | Foto: Bill Mollison / Introduction to Permaculture.

Permaculture and homesteading goofballs. Permaculture Design for Small Farms and Homesteads - Sustainable Farming. Conventional agricultural ecosystems (i.e., farms) are inherently fragile: Their productivity can be sustained only if fossil fuel subsidies, in one form or another, are employed as inputs. Most farms entail, as well, other very serious environmental costs.

Clearly, we need to create new food raising systems that will conserve soil, water, and nutrients ... minimize the use of fossil fuels, chemical fertilizers, and synthetic pesticides ... and lead to regionally self-reliant food systems. Alternative farming practices—known variously as organic, biological, or biodynamic methods—come closer to meeting such a criterion of sustainability. Nationwide, an estimated 30,000 farmers now rely on crop rotation, animal manures, legumes, green manures, mechanical cultivation, mineral-bearing rocks, and biological pest control to maintain soil productivity and tilth, supply plant nutrients, and control insects, weeds, and other pests.

Permaculture - What Is It and Why Is It Important?
18th March 2015 By Phil Watt. Our Permaculture Life: 5 Simple Ways to Improve Your Soil and Grow Better Food. There are of course many ways to improve soil and each climate and soil type offers it's own particular challenges and opportunities, however if we do these five things, I think we can make a huge difference to soil health and fertility, and therefore the quality of our food.Open the SoilFeed the SoilAdd Organic Matter to the SoilMulch the SoilWater Deeply I know that in some places it's not possible, but wherever you can, grow in connection with the soil.

Get your gardens into the ground and keep your veggie gardens in contact with natural soil - activate it!
6 Permaculture Power Plants. PHOTO: Rod Waddington/Flickr Perennial plants are the foundation of permaculture gardens. They’re generally more expensive than annuals and can take longer to produce, but once established, these powerhouses will deliver huge harvests with minimal effort.
The Definitive Guide to Building Deep Rich Soils by Imitating Nature - Permaculture Apprentice. Introduction to Permaculture Gardening. First of all, let's make sure we're clear on what permaculture gardening means: Permaculture is a word coined from "permanent" and "agriculture" but it's not just about gardening; it's about a whole new outlook on growing food for your family, using the rules of the physical universe to help.

Bill Mollison, often called the Father of Permaculture, first started to think about how all the systems around us should be integrated into a holistic approach. Instead of keeping the garden separate from all the other things going on in and around our dwellings, why not incorporate everything in a supportive way?
What if Permaculturists Designed our Cities? Interview with Richard Register. SE: It seems that ecocities are permaculture on a larger scale. In what areas do you think ecocity thinkers can learn from permaculturists, and what can permaculturists do to scale up to city size?
Przewodnik edukacyjny i praktyczne wskazówki.

The Food Forest Card Game. You probably already know that I am in “shameless self-promotion” mode with the Food Forest card game. Fortunately for all of us, the campaign will soon be drawing to a successful close! The game will eventually be available to the general public but this is the last call for now.
Creating a Food Forest - Step by Step Guide - Permaculture Apprentice. Permaculture Zones of Use: A Primer. How to Make a Temperate Forest Garden : Part 1. Permaculture for Beginners Episode 1. Permaculture Design Course: Patterns. Patterns and Permaculture. Flowering Tree Permaculture Institute - Patterns. Permaculture Forums at Permies. Reportage sur la PERMACULTURE. Temperate Climate Permaculture. Your source for Permaculture design in a Temperate Climate!
Index of /Permaculture. Permaculture Activist Magazine.